Review

Touching Time-Travel Tale

10/10 Being one who always seems to enjoy time-travel stories, it's no wonder I like this movie so much, but it isn't the interesting "time" angle that draws me in: it's also the fact that this is one of the most touching love stories I've ever seen. I'm not usually a big fan of romance stories, but this one has always moved me, maybe because, as another reviewer points out, it's from the man's point of view.

The film is a wonderful old-fashioned type of story with a really nice feel for the period (1912) and is simply a pleasant, leisurely-paced story I found comfortable. Would kids of today like this? No. Too slow for them. Too bad, because I found the movie moved pretty well. The 100 minutes went by quickly.

Christopher Reeve is the star of the film but personally I found Jane Seymour and Christopher Plummer far more entertaining. The theme song, "Somewhere In Time," is one of the prettiest songs ever and that adds to the sad and frustrating romance angle of the story. The language also is quite tame. Yes, it's a bit "sappy" at times, but for sentimental people, this is a nice film to keep.

My only real complaint is I've never seen a sharp transfer put on a DVD yet. There have been two DVDs out and both have that grainy look to them. That's disappointing because this would really look nice with a clear picture. The film deserves better treatment.

NOTE: A Blu-Ray of this film was released in March of 2014 and finally does this great film justice!

3 years ago

My all-time favorite movie.

10/10 There are those few movies that make you sit back and just be amazed at the artistic excellence you've just seen. Citizen Kane, Casablanca, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Star Wars, The Godfather, Ben Hur, and The Lord of the Rings trilogy are a few of these. Somewhere In Time is not a blockbuster actioner, but is perhaps the finest fantasy love story ever made.

The cast is perfect. Christopher Reeve is extremely believable. Jane Seymour is gorgeous as the young actress, as is Teresa Wright as her older self. Christopher Plummer is great as Elise McKenna's manager, and Bill Erwin affords himself fine as Arthur. The setting, music, story, and acting are all top notch! We are slowly drawn (and it's just great to take one's time to get involved) into this mysterious romance as the paradox pair of the watch and the time travel gets our hero to "come back to me."

Simply Superb! If you are one of the very few who has not seen this movie, please get it and watch it one time. I've seen it at least 10 times and enjoy it as much each time.

3 years ago

One of the most achingly beautiful movies ever

10/10 Somewhere in Time is a movie any sensitive person with a heart will love, I guarantee you. From the opening at the theater to the unbelievably moving final scene, I have never seen a film so passionately and yet so innocently depict the power of absolute, all-encompassing, unconditional love.

The story is so simple, yet therein lies the beauty. Richard Collier, a man with no love in what otherwise seems like a nice enough life, becomes enchanted at the sight of Elise McKenna's painting and with only the power of his heart travels back to her time. Once there, he looks for Elise, and finds her. Elise is confused and does not immediately respond because of her manager W.F. Robinson, but she quickly returns Richard's love. I will not say anymore, other than that the ending made me feel so warm and yet made me want to cry. You will be hard pressed to find a movie lighter on plot, and there are many questions left unanswered, but that's perfect because Somewhere in Time is very surreal, and dreamlike even. The emphasis is not on watching events, but on simply feeling love, and this is as close as anyone has ever come to making a movie out of pure emotion.

Jane Seymour looks radiant while on screen but this is Christopher Reeve's movie. Reeve, after amazing everyone with his talent, good looks, and charisma in one of the biggest blockbusters ever, could have become one of Hollywood's all-time great leading men. Instead, a series of horrible decisions about what roles to take and not take made it so that he had to do TV movies to pay the bills by the late 1980s. To this day, to 99% of the public he is the paralyzed Superman and nothing more. But this is the one movie that shows what should have been. He very convincingly depicts Richard first as goofy kid, then as empty older man, then as someone simply awestruck by love and determined to let nothing stop him from getting the breathtaking Elise. Then, in the final scenes, he portrays his anguish so remarkably it is wrenching to watch.

Also deserving of special mention is Christopher Plummer, who seems to be an extraordinary actor on the basis of the two films I've seen him in (the other is The Insider). A lesser actor would have made Robinson into a mustache-twirling villain, and brought the whole production down to the level of a soap opera. Plummer, however, with his nuanced performance, makes us hate Robinson, but also makes us his feel his pain. Through his subtle mannerisms, we see that Robinson himself deeply longs for Elise's love, but has probably never been loved and never will be loved by anybody. We thus realize how incredibly lucky Richard is. I personally saw Robinson as perhaps someone whose father never loved him and whose mother died when he was very young, and he has spent his whole life wanting to truly take care of someone like Elise but it is as if he has been rendered incapable. He is still contemptible for the things he does to Richard, but he is also a tragic figure, and the script has nothing to do with that-it's all Christopher Plummer.

John Barry's score is also among the most enchanting in movie history, in my opinion. I have never heard a score which so wonderfully conjured up feelings of timeless love. Jeannot Szwarc may not be a well known or otherwise accomplished director, but he does this one perfectly. This movie in the wrong hands could so easily come across as corny and trite, but instead it is such an absorbing masterpiece. Every element in this movie is just perfect, and it should be universally considered one of the greatest love stories of all time (if not the greatest, like I think it is).

As it is most people have never heard of it, but it is nice to know that a small devoted following gives it the recognition it deserves. I hope it continues to win people's hearts for generations to come.

3 years ago

Virtually the Best Movie Ever

5/10 I am a young man who grew up loving horror, action, and kung-fu movies. I hated the Victorian books we were forced to read in school. However, the one exception to the rule has been this movie. I LOVED this movie. The story line was solid. The direction was superb. And the acting was so good, that I have always wondered why Reeves & Seymour's career didn't catapult after this film. I have watched it many times since it came out, and ever time I am captivated. If you can't relate to this movie, I think you must have a heart of cold stone. This gets a strong KBONE rating of 10 on a scale of 1 to 10. Pay special attention to Seymour's soliloquy during the play and Reeve's facial expressions during that time as well Reeve during the last 10 minutes of the movie. I really can't say enough about this masterpiece.

3 years ago

The film affirms that love is an undeniable force which goes beyond us...

9/10 Christopher Reeve takes on the role of (Richard Collier) a successful Chicago playwright who is approached (in May 1972) by a very old woman (Susan French) who will alter the course of his life eternally...

The thoughtful old lady presses a classic pocket watch, from a past existence, into his right hand and intensely whispers four haunting words 'Come back to me,' which will affect him forever...

Eight years have passed and Richard is seeing his work incredibly sterile, gently afflicted with a case of lesser inspiration... So he packs his luggage and heads out to an island of enchanting beauty, to the Grand Hotel on the Straits of Mackinac waterfront...

While waiting for the huge dining hall to open, he tours the grand old building's museum, and sees a portrait of a lovely woman... He becomes obsessed about finding the truth behind the old photograph and begins questioning the people that knew her past... What emerges is a wonderful woman who is the first American stage actress in 1912 to create a mystique in the public's eye... She is the same lady who visited him that night at the premier of one of his plays...

Richard finds himself intrigued... There is so much to hear... People who knew Elise McKenna when she was young said that she was quick and bright and full of fun... Strong, willful, not at all the way she was later...

Seeking help from an old philosophy teacher who had written a book about 'Travels through time,' Richard attempts to disassociate himself entirely from the present, move everything out of sight that could possibly remind him of it, hypnotize his mind, and transport himself backward into the past, into June 27, 1912, into the life of the stunningly beautiful and talented Elise McKenna (Jane Seymour).

Nominated for Best Costume Design, the motion picture is a romantic fantasy that avoids any use of machinery in action... The time travel theory is completely non-scientific... The film captures the idea of a fine young man moving back among other time periods, and affirms that love is an undeniable force which goes beyond us, a force with no limit to the spiritual power, with no end to the potential of spiritual expansion...